First check your state regulations on legal compensation if the benefits agency isn't licensed for property and casualty as well as what the Department of Insurance allows or disallows as acceptable procedure.

There are some dangers for clients who shop their insurance every year. I worked with an agency who had a niche market and some specialized forms. Periodically we would have clients who would shop coverage every year. After the first 2 years, the underwriters at the other carriers wouldn't even quot...

Also, look carefully at the Castle reports. They've usually included code requirements in their calculations. Most standard HO policies only allow 10% of the dwelling limit for this. You may find that if you break it out, increasing the code upgrade coverage to 25% or 50% or more makes it all very a...

Perhaps you can approach the underwriter with Functional Replacement Cost. Below is a link to a series of articles on property valuation that were posted over on My New Markets. Excellent info. Read the whole series. http://www.mynewmarkets.com/article_view.php?id=90742

Actually, Mercury isn't hard to work with. You will get a lot of memos until you learn the ropes. Their underwriting criteria requires the agent to provide some information not always requested by other companies, but it is pretty straight forward if you read the manual and complete the application ...

[quoteI misread Ericpaulsens entry, thought it said all students enrolled in college must register their car. Good news and nice catch, Furrie Princess!][/quote] Well, kind of... if she's enrolled in University of CA or a CSU school... the non-resident tuitions are about double the resident rate... ...

The rules - per CA DMV for drivers licenses: If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid. If you become a Californi...

That is why some companies rate the young drivers on the highest rated car, whether or not it is the one they drive so it generates the maximum amount of premium. And the best ones... are "oh, yes, everything was updated before we bought the house"... Ok, then you won't mind that the compa...

Go sign up for a continuing ed class on garage liability, gkll, etc. Or find a local educational provider like IEA. Taking classes and attending seminars in specialty areas gives you the opportunity to learn from those that have been in the business and ask questions... In insurance the only dumb qu...

I agree with Scott. Hire a professional to assist you. I worked for an agency where they purchased an agency without professional assistance, what a nightmare. Person who "owned" the agency neglected to advise that the producers actually owned a percentage of their book.